Mostaccioli

This traditional Italian Christmas cookie’s name comes from the word “mosto,” which is pressed grape juice before fermentation. For mostaccioli, the mosto is cooked down to a syrupy thickness. Be sure to give yourself extra time to make the reduced wine. It could take up to an hour. This recipe is from Bernardina Masci, the popular Casa Italiana cooking instructor. She mixes everything in the traditional way, by hand, no mixer, no spoon. You should do the same.

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In an extra large bowl, whisk together 9 cups of flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and allspice. Add the remaining cookie ingredients and mix everything together by hand. If the dough is too thick you can soften it by adding Vermouth or a little extra milk. If it is too thin, add extra flour.

Roll the dough into 1-inch thick logs or ropes (like making gnocchi). Cut diagonally into 2- to 3-inch pieces, then press down on the ends of each piece to shape the log in the form of a miniature loaf. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

To make the frosting, mix the confectioners’ sugar, milk and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Spread the tops of the cookies with chocolate frosting. You can freeze the cookies without frosting.

Makes about 10 dozen cookies.

Bittersweet Christmas treat

Every year for this series, I test about 18 cookie recipes and select the 12 best to be in the series. That’s just a warm-up for Bernardina Masci. Using the massive database of Italian recipes she keeps in her head, the Penfield home cook typically cranks out 40 or 50 different holiday cookies, which she generously shares with family and friends.

“It’s like a bakery in her house,” says one of those friends, Stella Plutino-Calabrese, director Casa Italiana, Nazareth College’s cultural hub for la dolce vita.

“I do like to cook, and I especially like to bake,” says the Lazio native, who came to Rochester in 1969 when she was 23.

Thanks to their connection, Masci has been sharing all her recipes of home through demonstration-style cooking classes at Casa Italiana for more than a decade. The classes are so popular that regulars line up at the door with their checks as soon as the newsletter is mailed.

One woman waited three years to get a spot in Masci’s kitchen court, says Plutino-Calabrese. A member of the board of trustees actually called the president of the college to see if he could pull some strings and land him a seat.

On a warm, sunny morning in late October, you could never guess that the impeccably dressed Masci is recovering from knee surgery. Standing barely 5 feet tall, she moves with the quickness of a hummingbird and the strength of a wrestler, easily kneading a mass of stiff dough nearly as big as a bed pillow. She speaks softly, with an accent as thick as the vincotto (or cooked, reduced wine) she uses to make mostaccioli, a decadent, spicy, bittersweet frosted cookie that is made at Christmastime throughout Italy.

The cookie is believed to have originated in Naples but has been adapted by nearly every region in the country, says Plutino-Calabrese.

This is the first time mostaccioli has been on Masci’s roster. “Italian people will recognize this recipe, but for Americans it might be a bit of a new cookie to try,” Plutino-Calabrese adds.

While cocoa, almonds, orange and tangerine zest and honey play decadent supporting roles, mostaccioli’s defining ingredient comes from mosto, the unfermented juice from the grape harvest. Centuries ago, when sugar was a luxury enjoyed only by the wealthy, peasants had to make their own sweeteners by cooking grape juice down to syrup; hence mosto cotto.

Vin cotto accomplishes the same thing, only made with fermented, not fresh, grape juice.

Masci tells the class they can make their own vin cotto or mosto with any inexpensive red wine or grape juice. Just put a quart or more in a pot and let it simmer until there is only one cup left.

Mostaccioli are delicious with wine, but Masci prefers to eat hers with coffee.